Semi-Live Review: Grandeur of the Seas 13 - 22 June 2019

[cliftoncruiser]

I’ve never done a review of a cruise but always enjoy reading the reviews so I thought I would give it a try and write a review.  I say semi-live because I will most likely look at this late evenings after my day is done and I settle done for the night.  I am typing from my phone so please excuse any typos.  😳

 

Now for a little about myself and my cruise.  I am traveling with my family.  We are a family of four that have cruised before.  I have two teenagers- one 18 year old and a 16 year old.  I often see questions about teens so I will add a bit about what they do throughout the cruise.  The kids have gone through various age groups at the camps in the past.   The 18 year old just aged out of the camp and the 16 year old is still able to join in the camp activities.  Both have enjoyed the Cabos over the years as it had given them the chance to meet other kids their age to hang out with during the week.  They have found that the first few days all the kids go to the camp and form groups.  These groups tend to stick together throughout the duration of the cruise.  Day 1 the 16 year old went up and met other kids.  The 18 year cannot go to the camp any longer but is able to go to the on board club but not drink alcoholic drinks but can order virgin drinks.

 

As far as the cruise, the itinerary is nine nights up the NE and Canada.  We will stop in Boston, Massachusetts; Portland and Bar Harbor, Maine; Saint Johns Canada and Halifax Canada.  

 

Day at one was fantastic!  Boarding in Baltimore is so easy.  As you enter the parking lot, the attendant directs you to the luggage carts.  You luggage is pulled out of your car and than you park. It took about 10 minutes to get through security at 12:00pm.  We than took the boarding pictures and were on board by 12:30pm.  Vacation has started!!!  😀. Once on board, we headed to lunch.  Being in a suite, we were treated to a special lunch for suite guest.  I ordered salmon and it was delicious.  Husband and kids ordered skirt steak.  Once I figure out how to upload pictures, I will post a few.

 

After lunch, we  roamed a bit to get reacquainted with the ship. Next was the mandatory muster drill.  It was very well run and went quickly. and than went up to the concierge lounge.    We met a few cruisers and enjoyed lovely conversation and then headed down to our room to unpack and get ready for dinner.  Dinner was pork chops with fresh veggies.  

 

After dinner, we e plotted a bit more before heading to the Pacific Lounge for the ABBA trivia game.  I am horrible at trivia but it was fun nonetheless.  After the trivia there was karaoke.  I watched the first few performance and then headed back to the room to finish unpacking.  Once unpacked, I headed up to the Viking Lounge.  It was not crowded but fun.  The bartender was personable and it was a nice way to end Day 1.

 

 

 

[depplep]

Looking forward to your review. We are doing the 7nt in October. Do you have any excursions planned?

[dixieva]

Was your lunch at Chops?  Was it free for suite guests?

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Edited June 14, 2019 by dixieva

[cliftoncruiser]

1 hour ago, depplep said:

Looking forward to your review. We are doing the 7nt in October. Do you have any excursions planned?

How exciting- October will be a beautiful time of year and you may see the beautiful foliage.  In Boston we plan to freestyle it and use the trolley.  We have done that in the past and it worked out well.  The trolley driver narrates the areas much like a tour guide and it is hop-on/ hop-off with a single price.  We plan to go down town to Quincy Market area.  In Saint John’s we booked a Sox hour private tour that takes us all over to include the reversing rapids and sea caves.  The other ports we have not decided yet.  

[cliftoncruiser]

1 hour ago, dixieva said:

Was your lunch at Chops?  Was it free for suite guests?

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Lunch for the suite guests was in Gatsby’s for this cruise.  Other than the suite guests and private parties, Gatsby’s was closed.  The food so far has been delicious.  The concierge, Carlington, was in Gatsby’s and walked around greeting us at the table(s).  He is great, very friendly and wants guests to enjoy their vacation.  Lunch photos...

[LuCruise]

Grandeur was my very first cruise.  Sounds like a nice family holiday.  Looking forward to hearing more.

[dixieva]

6 minutes ago, cliftoncruiser said:

Lunch for the suite guests was in Gatsby’s for this cruise.  Other than the suite guests and private parties, Gatsby’s was closed.  The food so far has been delicious.  The concierge, Carlington, was in Gatsby’s and walked around greeting us at the table(s).  He is great, very friendly and wants guests to enjoy their vacation.  Lunch photos...

I'm in a suite for my cruise next April.   Didn't know that would include lunch in the dining room on embarkation day.  That will be nice.

I knew back to back cruisers have lunch in there.

Thanks!

[Cru1s1ng2009]

looking forward to your posts!

[dutchclogs]

Also following :0 

[cliftoncruiser]

Day 2 - Today was a Sea Day.  I found the day to be relaxing.  We enjoyed the suite breakfast in Chops and than I did a little shopping.  The center area had dress purses for $10 each and they come in handy with teen daughters so I picked up a few.  They come in handy for homecoming and formals.  Than I went to the international hair show with my DD.  I thought the show would include more styling techniques versus explaining how the products solve problem hair.  My daughter enjoyed it so it was worthwhile.  My other DD signed up for the Sushi making class.  She loves sushi and really enjoyed the class.  She said she could make the sushi at home now.  I had read that they give you a handout with directions to take home but she said that directions were not handed out.  I’ll have to test her sushi making skills memory at home and have her make a sushi dinner one night. 

    The Captain’s Welcome Reception for suite guest was also this morning.  They had a nice buffet display and the staff we fabulous.  We met Captain Patrick, the Guest Services Manager Diana (Hi Diana 😀), and the many other crew members.  The Grandeur has such a friendly crew.  It really makes the cruise more  enjoyable. Lunch was in Gatsby's as we prefer sitting down and not searching for a table with a plate of food. The Concierge Lounge is always a favorite and we chatted with Carlington a bit.  He shared information on Boston with us. Tonight was formal night so we headed to the room early to get ready as we have the early dinner and wanted to get photos done before we ate.  We all dressed up in gowns which was fun as we don’t get to dress formal all that often.  Plus we got a little more use out the the girls gowns.  Activities for the rest of day included watching a dance lesson from above. a Broadway style show in the theatre and 80’s music trivia in the Centrum.  The trivia was a blast and there were some very good sports - two men that danced like butterflies with prodding for the CD. They laughed and went along with it was hilariously. We ended the evening in the Viking Lounge.  It was empty up there so after a drink, we headed back to the room.   Tomorrow is the 1st port day and we will be in port for a good portion of the day.

[cliftoncruiser]

We are pulling into Boston now and the weather is great.? Looking forward a a fun day downtown!

[cliftoncruiser]

Captain Patrick and gang guiding the Grandeur to dock.

[cliftoncruiser]

We had a great time in Boston today.  We hired a taxi for three hours today who took us to all of the touristy sites we wanted to see.  We were able to visit Quincy Market, the Boston Tea Party Ship, the USS Constitution ship, saw some folks dressed in colonial costumes, see the big colleges (Harvard, MIT, Boston Univ, and Boston College), visit the Cheer Bar (the Bull and Finch Pub, and other sites.  We ate a lobster roll lunch at Legsl Seafood, and than we walked back to the ship.  Walking is easy as there were painted guides along the sidewalk directing us.

Once back on board, we went up to the concierge Lounge for a drink.  I have been trying new drinks and found one I liked - the dirty monkey but over ice rather than frozen.  The frozen was good but wouldn’t go through the straw.  I love trying new drinks on vacay so if anyone has a good suggestion, let me know.  

We had dinner and than I watched a game in the Pacific Lounge called Majority Rules.  Questions were asked to teams and  answer submitted on paper - whichever answer came up  most often won.  I finished the evening with the adult comedy show in the Palladium.  The comedian, Don Gavin, was great!  Definitely worth seeing.

[JamesEM]

Following along.

[cliftoncruiser]

I couldn’t get any of the the Boston pictures to upload last night but here are some ...

[cliftoncruiser]

[cliftoncruiser]

Surprisingly, for the teens the Cheers attraction was the one one site that was on their list to see.  They spent a while trying to get an instagram picture.  🤔. They were satisfied after that.  Also, fir the walkers, her is a picture of the guides painted on the sidewalks.

[LBumb]

Great photos

[Beav1279]

Thanks for sharing! Following 🙂 

[loltastic]

This is great so far!  We went back and forth about doing this cruise with our teens as well so I'll be interested to see what they think about everything.

[Robinhill]

On 6/14/2019 at 8:05 AM, cliftoncruiser said:

Lunch for the suite guests was in Gatsby’s for this cruise.  Other than the suite guests and private parties, Gatsby’s was closed.  The food so far has been delicious.  The concierge, Carlington, was in Gatsby’s and walked around greeting us at the table(s).  He is great, very friendly and wants guests to enjoy their vacation.  Lunch photos...

I did not know there was a Gatsbys on the Grandeur- where is it located?

[SRF]

It is the MDR

[Robinhill]

ok thanks

[cliftoncruiser]

4 hours ago, loltastic said:

This is great so far!  We went back and forth about doing this cruise with our teens as well so I'll be interested to see what they think about everything.

Toward the end of the cruise, I will paraphrase my teens thoughts on the cruise.  I do know that the teen club is used as a meeting place for many teens.  The first couple of days, the staff try to get the teens acquainted with one another.  The teens form friend groups fairly quickly and will meet up throughout the week (not always at the camp) and hang out.  In port today, there were lots of hello waves amongst the teens. If 18 or older, they can no longer go to the camp.  Even so, my 18 year old is enjoying herself.  I will update later this week.  If you have any questions you would like me to ask my teens, feel free.

[mac1_131]

Looks like great weather!